Lilly’s purpose is to discover, develop and deliver new medicines to make life better for people around the world. It’s complex work that requires people with diverse skills and perspectives who challenge each other to be the best we can be every day. Diversity is essential for innovation, and to understand the customers who depend on us.

We have been on a journey to build more equity into our systems and to create a more diverse and inclusive environment. Our board and executive committee are more diverse than ever, and our leadership ranks are 46% women and 22% minorities.

But we know it’s not enough.

We see the impact of racial injustice and inequities in our communities. Biases that impede the progress of any population hurt our employees and our business. For far too long, minorities and underserved populations appear to be at the forefront of disparities at disproportional rates. As a major employer, we have a responsibility to take significant actions outside our company to make a difference.

In June 2020, we launched our Racial Justice Initiative. We announced it at a community event we coordinated to encourage others to join in as trauma gripped the nation after the death of George Floyd. The Lilly Foundation committed $25 million and our company pledged 25,000 employee volunteer hours over five years to address racial injustice and increase opportunities for Black Americans.

You can learn about what we have done in 2020 and 2021 on Lilly.com and within our 2020 ESG report’s community engagement section.

Here I will highlight two major parts of this initiative: health and jobs.

Health

Healthcare is our business. We are investing to make medicines and care more accessible and affordable to reduce healthcare disparities for underrepresented and underserved populations. Here are three examples:

• Clinical trial diversity. For more than a decade, Lilly has focused on bringing more diverse patients into the clinical trials we conduct for potential new medicines. We’ve expanded these efforts. One strategy is to partner with external groups to recruit more minority physicians as clinical trial investigators. That’s because people feel more comfortable volunteering for a trial if the doctor speaks their language or understands their culture. We still have work to do for some health conditions, but overall we’re seeing progress. Among the most recent 12,000 U.S. patients in our clinical trials, 39% were minorities—about the same as in the U.S. population.
• Health Equity Fund. We are partnering with Direct Relief to establish the Health Equity Fund in the U.S. The fund will offer a chance for urban and rural health centers and free clinics to apply for grants of up to $250,000. The intent is to help provide high-quality, culturally appropriate healthcare and to help address social conditions that affect health for underserved people. Lilly is committing $5 million over five years.
   
• Insulin affordability. Lilly has long been committed to developing long-term policy solutions to address gaps in our current U.S. healthcare system. In the meantime, we have many programs to help people afford their insulin. As of January 2021, anyone who uses Lilly insulin, whether they have insurance or not, is eligible to fill their prescription for $35 a month.  Although these efforts pre-date our Racial Justice Initiative, they are important in reducing healthcare disparities.

Jobs
Career opportunities are core to equity in our community, so creating access to good jobs is a major part of our Racial Justice Initiative. Here are several examples:

• Lilly and a coalition of leading corporate and civic organizations across Central Indiana signed the Indy Racial Equity Pledge to advance racial equity for Black Americans. Lilly announced four new commitments:
  • Increasing the current representation of Blacks in our U.S. workforce from approximately 10% to 13% to align more closely with the demographics, nationally, of the patients and communities we serve.
  • Doubling the company’s annualized spend with Black suppliers by the end of 2022.
  • Providing $1 million to LYNX Capital Corporation to support local Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurship.
  • And the Lilly Foundation granted $250,000 to the Indianapolis Urban League, related to its establishment of the Indianapolis Entrepreneurship Center. The center will provide learning opportunities to encourage Black entrepreneurship in Indianapolis.

• We have joined forces with other major companies to hire, train and advance Black Americans into 1 million family sustaining jobs through a partnership with the OneTen coalition.

As part of that commitment, we have developed an apprenticeship program for individuals at local colleges who don’t yet have their degrees. The first apprentices have begun their work and others will begin in the coming months. The goal is to provide these individuals with the skills necessary to obtain a job after the completion of the program.

• Unseen Capital Fund. Lilly is providing a $30 million limited partner investment in Unseen Capital Health Fund LP, a new venture capital fund created by racially diverse and historically underrepresented business leaders. The fund will provide support for minority-owned, early-stage health care companies.
   

Conclusion

If we’re going to continue deliver on our promise of life-changing medicines to our patients, we must address the need for equity of opportunity for everyone. That means rooting out ingrained assumptions and biases in our organizations and using our influence to partner with organizations like the Urban League to do the same in our communities.

Issues of racial injustice run deep, and they will not be solved overnight. But the journey of a thousand miles always begins with a commitment to move forward with one step. That’s what we must do. It’s important to our employees, our business and the patients who depend on us.